Crucible of the Angel
by AllenWalker4ever
Summary: Mutants AU. It's Dean's dream to become one of the best angel hunters in the world. He wants to fight Lucifer's army and save humanity from the rebel mutants. Introducing Castiel, a young fledgling without a power, and Gabriel, an Archangel. Sam is drawn to Gabriel from the start, and Dean is forced to metaphorically take Castiel under his wing. Destiel/Sabriel/Crobby
1. Prologue

**Another one, I know. Shoot me. This is called Crucible of the Angel. And well, it's kind of a Supernatural/X-men type of story. Angels are mutants, and have super powers. This is just a prologue. This is T right now, but I may bump it up to M later. Perhaps if it gets violent/disturbing enough. Chapter 1 to come soon.**

* * *

_~Prologue~_

"Gabriel! Gabriel!" Castiel called hopelessly. His older brother was nowhere to be found. He let out a sigh, almost a little huff, and walked down another hallway of the giant academy they called a home.

Crucible Academy was the primary school for children with special abilities, for mutants. Each mutation came with two distinct things, a set of giant wings and a special inhuman ability. The wing color was directly related to the power. Castiel was still little, barely 11, and his wings hung tiny and almost lifeless on his back. They were black and shone like ebony in the sunlight.

As for Castiel's powers, he had yet to discover them. He had to have them, the wings were a clear sign of that. But he had just turned 11, and his powers were still locked behind there somewhere. It wasn't normal, and if any of the teachers found out about his lack of them, his wings could be cut off and he could be sentenced to life as a service man.

"Gabriel?" Castiel tried one last time to find his brother.

"Hey now. Gabriel's gone. He left this morning, after he graduated from the Academy. No one knows where he went, but when they find him it won't be pretty. Gabriel has to live in the reserve, it's the rules," His teacher, Chuck, told him as he wandered closer to Chuck's classroom. Chuck was an angel class with small gray pigeon wings, who'd possessed the ability to see into the future sometimes. He couldn't control his ability, so instead he taught the beginning classes and littlest mutants before they were sorted into their class, all the way up until they were 11. Chuck was nice, but Castiel didn't like him all that much. There were other people's presence he enjoyed far more. Like Gabriel, for instance.

"I have my first power class tomorrow, I need to talk to him. I still don't know-" Castiel caught himself before he could mention he had no idea what his power was in front of a teacher. Teachers had been telling them to practice their skills before their power classes, to hone their abilities. Power classes started off with a display of abilities and then a competition between the students for their class, an angel or an archangel. Archangels went off and studied really tough subjects and excelled in pretty much everything, while angels were the run-of-the-mill power holders who took normal classes.

Castiel didn't know what his power was, and therefore there was no change he'd get archangel. All he wanted was to get into the angel class. And he didn't want to mention that he didn't have a power to a teacher, they'd demote him from student to a janitor or an assistant to the teachers or something equally humiliating after removing his useless wings.

As they were as much a part of him as his arms or legs, he wouldn't allow that to happen. Castiel sometimes wished he was just a normal human without any wings, who'd never had any wings in the first place. No power, of course, no wings, no Crucible Academy, just regular human life. Not that Castiel knew about regular human life. He wanted to know, of course, but as a mutant, Castiel wasn't allowed outside of the mutant reserve or even the Academy.

"Well, Gabriel should show up sooner or later to cheer you on. He's your brother, and as unreliable as he can be, he'd never let his littlest brother down." Chuck patted him on the shoulder and pushed him back off into the direction of the dorms. Castiel left the hallway with a sigh and headed back to his room.

His first power class, and Gabriel wasn't even there to help him try and find his power. Castiel sighed and collapsed on his bed. Closing his eyes, he dreaded the next day. And it came way too fast.

Before he knew it, Castiel stood with his spine straight in a line with the rest of the power class students, wearing his new uniform of a yellow sweater vest over a white button down shirt and white slacks uncomfortably. The teacher, an Archangel named Michael who was famous for his fighting abilities and his powers that enhanced everything from his appearance to his brainpower depending on the situation, stood in front of them impatiently. They were merely waiting until 8:45, the exact time the power class started.

He still didn't know what his power was, Castiel remembered uneasily. He was nervous, scared, and he had every right to be. He had no idea what his skills were. His wings, Castiel thought as he shifted the appendages fitfully, showed that he had power. He had to have power.

His black crow (or were they raven?) wings showed that. And he would never let someone cut them off.

"We'll start alphabetically." Michael said, his voice soothing while still somehow frightening. Castiel looked at Michael's snow white dove's wings and just felt that he wouldn't be accepted here as easily even if he did have a power. "First to come up is Anna."

A girl with bright auburn hair and little Cardinal wings hopped out of the line, a smile big and bright on her face. Most guys would've called her cute, or at least very pretty. Castiel wanted to give a smile of support but she seemed to have this in a bag.

"I can control some types of plants, as long as they grow in a place that gets a lot of snow. I brought along a sprig of pine to demonstrate! I've been practicing this all year." She excitedly brought out a pine needle and started glaring at it. A green glow surrounded it, and it started to grow and grow and grow until there was an entire pine branch in front of her.

Michael nodded slowly, with a tiny smile. "Very good. Anna, angel class."

She frowned, but it only lasted an instant before she bounded back into the line. Castiel bit his lip. His name started with a C, meaning only a few more As and Bs before he had to go up and tell Michael that he didn't have a power. And then he'd be humiliated.

"Next we have Azazel." Michael instructed.

Castiel watched as a golden eyed boy, with large bat wings, combed his way to the front of the students. He flexed his wings, watching the students stare at their strange shape. Not many mutants had bat wings. Most had some type of bird wings. In fact, dove and pigeon wings were the most common types of wings.

"I can control fire." Azazel grinned, as he summoned up a tiny flame on his finger like a lighter. It grew into a swirling force as the students watched. As it got bigger, and hotter judging by the color of the flame, Michael nodded.

"Impressive. Azazel, Archangel class."

It didn't take long before Michael had finished with Balthazar, Castiel's close friend and a soul carrier who was placed into angel class easily, a Belial, and a Boimael. It was time for the Cs. Castiel's insides squeezed up as he watched a Camael show off her powers of inciting happiness.

Only Caethetel and Cassiel remained before it was Castiel's turn. And it didn't take long before Michael's blue eyes turned to Castiel and focused on him as his name was said.

"Castiel, if you please."

Castiel froze. He couldn't move. He literally could not move. If he moved, he'd have to tell Michael that he didn't have a power. He'd have to tell everyone that he didn't have a power and he'd be sentenced to have to deal with janitor work or being just an assistant. His wings meant he had to have a power.

Castiel had a power. He knew it.

"Castiel, don't be nervous. No one will bite. Come up and show us your power." Michael began to walk towards him, his tone gentle and soothing.

"I-I can't." Castiel whispered. "I don't have one."

The whole class stared at him, their eyes wide and distrusting. Michael stopped.

"You don't have a power?" Michael asked, his tone sharp. Castiel flinched, trying not to cry. Gabriel was his brother, and he had power! Gabriel was even an Archangel class, with his ability to speak and call to anyone no matter how far away and to influence people's behavior with only a word. Castiel had to have a power. There was just no question of it, except that he didn't. He didn't have one. He couldn't do a single thing that humans couldn't.

"No… No, I don't. I-I never have." Castiel tried to keep his tone even. He wanted to turn and run right out of the classroom.

Michael started to walk towards him, anger in his eyes. "Why didn't you bring this up with your superiors before now, before wasting everyone's time here? We could've cut off your wings and allowed you to-"

"NO! NO! NO!" Castiel screamed. "I won't let you cut off my wings! NO! GO AWAY!"

Castiel didn't have his brother's voice, and therefore his shrieks did nothing to stop Michael's now steady approach. Castiel couldn't fly. He didn't have the ability. All he really could do was scream.

"It won't hurt a bit, but we can't allow you to stay in this class or this Academy without a power. We can cut off your wings and let you work for the school as a-"

"NO!" Castiel let out an agonized wail that echoed throughout the room and bounced back off the walls. He took steady steps backwards, terrified. He knew it, they'd send him off and make him become a useless drone, they'd cut off his wings-!

"This is your last chance peacefully. Resist any longer and I'll have to use my powers to catch you." Michael threatened, almost close enough to touch him. Castiel clenched his eyes, trembling with fear, knowing that this was the end of his wings, his education, and his free will.

Balthazar dove in front of Castiel right before Michael could grab onto him, and he stuck his hand right into Michael's chest. That was how Balthazar grabbed souls and took them out. As long as his hand was in Michael's chest, Michael couldn't move in fear of having his soul ripped out. "Run! Castiel, run! Once you get outside, fly! FLY! I CAN'T KEEP HIM HERE MUCH LONGER!"

Castiel couldn't fly, he didn't know how to. Flying classes came after power classes. But Castiel did know how to run.

And run he did.

His feet could barely carry him as fast as he wanted, dashing down the hallway and slamming past students and teachers as he made a beeline for the nearest exit. Once he was outside, the sky was the limit, and no one could leave the barrier.

Castiel would've liked to pretend that included him, but no one with a power could leave the barrier. He didn't have one, and if he could fly out, he'd be set and safe from most of the mutants. He'd have to find shelter somewhere and hunker down, live out in the real world somehow, but otherwise he'd be safe.

Hoping for the best, Castiel slammed out the side doors and into the courtyard. Stretching his wings, he started running and flapping them like he'd seen Gabriel do when he was learning how to fly a long time ago. His wings caught enough air that he'd lifted himself off the ground and into the sky.

"CASTIEL! GET BACK DOWN HERE!" Michael called, his wings taking off as he jumped into the sky after Castiel. Castiel stared back down, at the Archangel catching up with him.

Faster! He had to go faster! He beat his wings with as much voracity as he had inside himself, pushing himself towards the barrier as quickly as he could go. Just as Michael was close enough to grab his shiny black dress shoe, he slammed past it.

Michael hit the barrier with full force, being repelled like a negative magnet hitting another magnet on the negative side. Castiel continued to fly upwards, until he broke cloud cover.

He was freezing, but invisible to the school. Castiel let out a shaky proud smile. He was out, free! Out and free and he could keep his wings! He could fly! But not for much longer, he noticed, as his wings felt exhausted. They'd give out if he didn't find a place to land soon.

Either way… Castiel was free.

* * *

**So that's it. Um, things will be explained later on, as we are introduced to Dean. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

"Dean! We're going to be late for school!" Dean heard as Sam called to him from the bathroom. The eldest Winchester groaned from his place on his bed. No way in fuck was he going to get up any earlier than now. He was going to sleep forever and dream about cheeseburgers and hot girls.

"DEAN!" Sam's bitchface #1 was out to play, a look that strictly told Dean to get his ass in gear and stop fucking around. Dean's head fell back onto the pillow in defeat.

"I'm up, Sammy." He grumbled, climbing out of his bed. He would've slept all day, but Sam was right; school was calling.

Sam and Dean were 11 and 15 respectably, and both of them were attending the local school system, with Dean entering into high school as a freshman and Sam a 6th grader in middle school. It was a big day for the both of them, in new schools and dealing with new friends and crowds.

Ever since the great mutant human issue in the turn of the 20th century, school had changed considerably. Now there were classes on self defense if anyone met a mutant human, classes on ways mutant history and mutant politics, and even apparently videos of mutant humans and their powers. Dean had always hated mutant humans and he wanted to become a hunter, so he'd enrolled in mutant self defense classes.

Sam seemed to be taking the other route, becoming an environmentalist and an equalmutist. They would still take the same classes, but Dean was taking them for an entirely different purpose. It had created tension between the two brothers, although neither would say a word about it.

"Let's go." Sam lead the way as they both headed out to their different bus stops.

* * *

Dean watched the teacher, a man who'd introduced himself as Bobby, finally finished taking role and stood up to start the lesson. He couldn't have been more excited to start his first mutant Defense class. Dean loved fighting and saving people, it was just his thing. And this was the way to do it.

"Let's start with identifyin' a mutant." Bobby said in his heavy southern accent. "So take some damn notes, ya idjits."

Dean liked this man already.

Bobby started a PowerPoint, in which he tapped his pointer to the screen to change the slides. The title screen simply said Identifying mutants, and it had a black background with bold white writing. Simple and efficient. Dean grinned, and pulled out a notebook. He started a new page of notes, with the heading the same as the PowerPoint's.

"To identify a mutant…" Bobby started his lecture. "You have to look for the obvious signs first. All mutants have or had some type of wings."

The powerpoint changed to a picture of a man, standing with an identification card for some sort of census photo, with dark hair, light blue eyes, and the most amazing feature of all, large white puffy angel wings. Dean stared shamelessly. He'd never seen a real picture of a mutant before. Mutants hated getting photographed, and most of the pictures were just photo-shopped. This one wasn't.

"See the wings? This is a mutant, and his wings are like a healthy dove's. Every mutant has wings. Cuttin' off their wings results in a permanent loss of power. They become human, in all necessary ways. But their DNA is still different, and so is a lot of their other ways and lifestyles."

Dean wrote this down furiously, not leaving a single detail out. He couldn't miss anything, not if he wanted to be a hunter. He couldn't expect to be a decent hunter if he couldn't think of any way to find a mutant or take out a mutant's abilities.

"A rogue mutant that don't follow the mutant reserve system will have their wings cut off as punishment. If a mutant child is born powerless, their wings are cut off to protect the child from matin' with another mutant and creating another powerless child. Mutants do not mate with any wingless bein's, mutant or human."

Dean scribbled that tidbit down carelessly, not really focused. As long as they didn't try to… ugh, mate with any humans, Dean didn't care about mutant mating habits.

"Mutants are known to have almost every type of wing there is." And here Bobby changed the powerpoint slide to another photo of a mutant with pigeon wings. "From pigeon, to even bat wings and wings made out of things like lightning and fire."

He changed the slides to show wings of all varieties on mutants of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Dean grinned at each one. There was so much variety. But one thing struck Dean as odd. He raised his hand.

"What, Winchester?" Bobby asked.

"I don't see any mutant with black wings, like crow's or raven's wings… do you just not have any photos of them, or is it something specific?"

"Naw. Black wings are completely possible, but just previously unheard of. The wing color corresponds with the power, and dove's wings mean powers related to purity, love, faith, or strength, while pigeons mean a power that is of little significance. Black wings would mean something related to death or evil. We assume."

Dean nodded, and made a note. Black wings equal death, but are previously unheard of.

"Continuin'." Bobby announced. "Wings're the easiest way to identify a mutant. But there're other ways. How much does yer opponent weigh? To be able to fly, mutants have something of a third lung, an air pouch that makes 'em light and easy to carry. Not only that, but like birds, their bones're hallow inside. Their weight is quite a bit lighter than their bulk. A full-grown man can weigh only 145 lbs and still be strong enough to knock out one of us in a single blow. They're light, not fragile."

Dean frowned. That would make them harder to fight, wouldn't it? He made a note in-between the info he was recording.

"Their weight is approximately one third of our own. Meanin' a mutant my size would weigh one third of what I do. Since I weigh a good 200 some pounds, this mutant will be around 90 lbs, light as a feather for its size."

"Does this make them easier or harder to fight?" Dean asked, his question remaining unanswered by Bobby's lecture.

"Depends on what type of fighter you are, Winchester. We'll all see how you do against one of them as yer final in this class. Movin' on, mutants go into two distinct social classes based on their abilities. If they are powerful, they are Archangels. If they are weak, they are merely angels."

The powerpoint changed to a split screen comparison of two mutants, one tall with large pigeon wings, and the other a girl with small dove's wings.

"Can you tell which one is an Archangel, and which one isn't?" Bobby asked.

Dean examined the photos. He had no idea which one was an Archangel, and which one wasn't. In fact, he couldn't have been more clueless. Weren't dove's wings a sign of power and pigeon wings meant that the mutant wasn't all that powerful? But certainly the one with the pigeon wings was more intimidating.

Jo, Dean's only friend who was a girl and still kickass, raised her hand to answer. "It's the pigeon wings, sir."

"And how can you tell?" Bobby prodded, not giving anything away from his stance. Jo frowned, shying away from answering. "That's right, no one in here can tell yet. That's in Chapter 15 of our defense book. Not even mutant themselves can tell until after they turn 11 years old and their wings begin to change."

"Well, which one is the Archangel?" Dean groaned, curiosity getting the better of him. He really wanted to know now! In fact, he didn't understand how something so wrong could be so interesting. He pegged it up to the fact he wanted to know everything about mutants so he could be a hunter.

"The Archangel here is the man, with the pigeon's wings. His power is that he can tell when people are tellin' the truth, and when they are lyin'. He's the supreme judge of all mutants. While his power isn't all that strong, his wings grew to show the signs of an Archangel, and he was promoted up to Archangel class. He's powerful and very dangerous. Since you'll need to know him anyway, this is Charles, and he also works as a teacher to young mutants."

Dean stared. The man, huh… so wing color wasn't the answer.

"So, from what I've taught ya, I think ya'll are ready for yer worksheets. Label each as a mutant or non-mutant, and explain and identify the type of wing the individual has. Be careful, for there are wingless mutants in the photographs. Take yer time. This is due at the beginning of class tomorrow." And with that, Bobby began handing sheets of paper out to all of the students with color photographs of all sorts of people.

Dean grinned. Best homework ever.

* * *

Slamming his backpack down onto the lunch table, Dean flopped into the nearest seat. Jo rubbed his back in slow circles as he let out a loud moan.

"I forget how much I hate school when I stop going." He muttered dramatically into the rough wood of the table top. His friends whistled and nodded in varying degrees of agreement.

"Aw, poor baby. Geometry is kicking your ass, isn't it?" Jo laughed. "On the first day, too!"

"Shuddup." Dean groaned.

"It isn't as bad as you think." She tried to comfort him. Jo was a sophomore, and even though geometry was a sophomore class, she'd taken it early. Dean wasn't all that book smart, and he wasn't taking honors geometry like she had, but he was still taking a sophomore class as a freshman and he was dying inside. Fifteen problems on the first day? How was that fair?

"Seriously. You're overreacting." Ash, the resident genius and stoner, said as he ruffled Dean's short hair. Dean had always been a bit jealous of Ash's fabulous mullet and his success even with his laziness. If Dean lazed off like Ash did, he'd have failed middle school so many times.

Bitterly, Dean stated, "I'm not going to need Geometry when I'm running across the country dealing with mutants and saving people's lives."

Jo quit rubbing his back at that and punched him in the shoulder blade instead. But the truth it was, he'd never need math if his job was helping out people with mutants who were destroying their towns and killing innocents.

Mutants hadn't let the normal humans put them away for the safety of the people without a fight. Lead by a famous mutant criminal aptly named Lucifer, a mutant resistance army had gathered and was using terrorism to try and release their brothers from the reserve. Lucifer's army of mutants had killed millions of innocent humans, and they were the reason people could take out contracts with the government to hunt down some of the guerilla mutant fighters in exchange for a pretty sum. His Dad was a hunter, and Dean wanted to be just like him.

Geometry wouldn't even come into play.

"I don't think you should listen to your dad all the time, Dean. No offense, but he's majorly racist." Jo sighed.

Dean grumbled and tensed up a little at that, but didn't really protest. So yeah, what? His Dad was a little racist against mutants, but he was a good father and he saved real human people. A couple abominations were worth real human lives. He'd save those lives.

"So what?"

"So listen to Sammy and tell me all about what we learned in class today, yeah? Don't let your dad tell you not to get swayed over by those winged dicks, as he would say, and realize you're still a kid!" Jo snapped, slapping him around his ear.

"Right, Jo… Will do."

* * *

"Sammy, ready to go home?" Dean beckoned his brother from the front gates of the middle school. Sam was talking animatedly with a much taller boy, a boy that looked like a high schooler. Dean bristled, and tried to seem bigger than he was.

Sam brought the older boy up to Dean, and beamed brightly at the both of them. "Dean! Gabriel, this is my brother, Dean. Dean, this is my friend Gabriel!"

Gabriel, said tall high school friend, gave him a look. Dean didn't know of anyone who had eyes like that, bright honey-hazel. His light colored hair and quirky looks didn't help with Dean's impression of Gabriel being a major geek, but his height, much taller than Sam and a few inches on Dean, made him keep his mouth firmly shut. Also, the high schooler was wearing a large tan coat, which was many sizes too big for him, and made him look rather fat. Any manner of things could be hidden in a coat like that.

Psh. This was one of Sam's friends! There was no way that this kid had anything even vaguely more dangerous in there besides a calculator.

"Hey, I guess." Dean held out his hand, and Gabriel shook it energetically, a grin plastered on his face.

"Nice to meet you too, sunshine! May I continue to steal your brother's attention and shower him in various types of candy? If I must have you know, he seems to enjoy Reese's. I say we feed this habit." He whispered that last bit almost conspiratorially. Gabriel was awful chipper. Dean held in his grimace.

"You don't go to the high school, do you?" Dean let slip out before he could stop himself. Sam gave him bitchface number #7, meaning something along the lines of 'Dean, what the hell are you doing?'.

Gabriel let out an even wider grin. "Nope! I graduated high school just this morning! Fancy private school and all~! I saw your brother, isn't he the cutest thing, and I just had to hug him! I may have accompanied him to all of his classes afterwards to his annoyance, but I figured he needed someone anyway."

Dean gave Sam a look of his own. What the hell, Sammy, he could've been a rapist or something… his friends were weird, but no one had come as close as this… thing. Sam shrugged helplessly, and by the look of it, Gabriel was telling the odd unlikely truth.

"Well, nice to meet 'cha, but Sam is coming home." Dean grabbed his brother's elbow and dragged him away from his hyperactive and clinically insane new friend. And no, Dean was not okay with this new development.

Once Gabriel was well out of sight, Dean turned to his brother and gave him a look that could rival one of Sam's own legendary bitchfaces. Sam let out a sheepish cheesy smile, shrugging his shoulders.

"He literally tackled me this morning. Fell out of the sky or something, and he was all panicky. So I helped, but he wasn't really coherent until later. Muttering all sorts of weird things. Eventually he calmed down, but by then the first bell had rung, and I couldn't get rid of him. He said all that stupid crap he gave to you to me as well once he wasn't babbling on about something being missing."

"You do realize you probably just befriended a serial killer." Dean face palmed. "Turn him into the police and tell them that he's not right in the head!"

"Gabriel's fine. Just odd. I think he hit his head earlier or something. He wouldn't leave me alone. The first time he has was just now, when you picked me up." Sam sighed. He really seemed to care about his new friend, so Dean decided to let the subject rest.

But he couldn't resist a good bit of brotherly teasing. "So Sammy… Reese's, huh?"

"Shut up."

* * *

By the time they had trekked the whole way home, the two Winchester boys were exhausted. Sammy had took off running towards the house as soon as they had gotten off the bus. Dean had taken it slow, trying to keep his eyes open and his mouth from letting out a traitorous yawn.

As soon as he'd unlocked the door, Dean took the first chance he had to throw his backpack on the ground and fling himself onto the nearest couch. What he didn't expect was to land on something- or rather, someone. Who had started squirming and protesting wildly.

"Sammy!" He whined, pining the struggling shape to the couch. "My couch!

Sam took a swing for his face, trying to knock off his attacker. "I was doing homework!"

"I wanted to sleep!"

"You're so lazy!"

"You're so boring!"

"Jerk!"

"Bitch!"

The two brothers ended up sharing, with Dean lying in Sam's lap and Sam's textbook firmly on Dean's back as the older brother dozed off. Dean let a lazy grin slip onto his face. Sam's pencil made soft skritching sounds above him and it was somehow soothing. Sam being smart, Sam doing his homework right away as soon as he got home from school, it was all very comforting to Dean.

And then Dean remembered. His homework!

Dean flung himself up, causing Sam's textbook to go flying across the room and his pencil to end up askew on the carpet halfway down the hall. Sam's curses and his bitchface that was starting to form on his face didn't disturb Dean from his excited high.

"Sammy, I have homework! From mutant Defense class! You love this stuff, let's do it together! It's actually really cool!" Dean made a dash for his backpack, hoping he could impress his genius sibling and feel like the smart one for once. And well, he wanted to be the best hunter ever, and if he didn't really get how to identify wingless mutants from humans, then Sam could clear that up for him really easily.

Sam let out a nervous laugh. "You, homework? You actually excited to do homework? Do we need to call the insane asylum?"

Dean frowned, pulling out the worksheets that Bobby had assigned. "Shut it, squirt. I'm allowed to be excited about becoming the best hunter ever."

"Are those your assignment?" Sam asked, walking over to his forlorn textbook and reclaiming it from it's crumpled state on the floor before picking up his equally wayward pencil from the hallway. The two brothers curled in close together on the couch, sides pressed together as they stared down at Dean's homework.

"Yeah. Instructions were simple, too. Figure out which ones are mutants and which ones are human."

"Really, but how?" Sam's learning face was on, and Dean grinned. He liked feeling smart. No wonder Sam jerked off at the sight of a textbook, he was gaining a new appreciation for learning. This was the first and only class he'd ever been excited about. He'd enjoyed learning to go and fix cars at the old auto shop. He'd enjoyed learning how to shoot a gun. He'd enjoyed a lot of life lessons, but he'd never enjoyed a class that he'd taken at school. This really was the first one.

"You just have to look for wings. There's the notes I wrote off of Bobby's lecture. Apparently, all mutants have wings. Only rogue ones don't. So we just look for ones with wings." Dean grinned.

"How does one identify a rogue mutant with no wings?" Sam scanned his notes with a sense of eagerness that Dean envied. Dean really couldn't answer his question, so he stared at the images to try and see if he could pluck out some mutants at first sight.

As he found out, Bobby wasn't a very nice teacher. Out of the 15 full body photos of mutants, only three had wings on display. One, with the name Michael underneath, had dove wings like the first photo he'd seen. Pulling Sam from his notes, Dean pointed.

"Dove wings. Bobby said that dove wings were signs of… uh…"

"Faith, strength, purity, or love. Honestly, Dean, you wrote it down even." Sam smirked.

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

Dean huffed, before flipping to one of the other angels with wings showing. The angel had large wings made out of lightning, spanning the whole image and more. They dwarfed the man that wore them. Dean whistled.

"Impressive. That looks frightening, doesn't it?" Dean showed Sam the angel, named Raphael according to the tiny print underneath the photo.

"Next time you see Mr. Singer, you should ask him about mutant names. Are they all angel names from theology?" Sam rubbed his forehead as he considered this. "Is there a certain naming system? Raphael was the name of one of the Archangels in Christian lore."

Dean shrugged. "Will do, I guess. He talked about one named Charles, but that may be just a biblical reference or something."

The last angel was a small man with pigeon wings, his name printed out as Oriel. Dean took his pencil, and wrote down on the three mutants the reason how he identified them. Turning to the rest of them, both boys stared on in hopelessness.

"Well, going off the name thing, I think we can cross out Sally, Chuck, and Anna. I don't see any wings on any of them." Sam pointed out, singling out a picture of a rather dopey looking woman in a pantsuit, a lanky man with scruffy hair wearing a hoodie and sporting a nice beard, and a girl about Sammy's age with bright red hair in a school girl's uniform complete with blazer.

"Point." Dean wrote human on the sheets of paper.

That left them with the rest. Uriel was definitely an angel name, and the black teenager glared defiantly back at the camera as if he hated being photographed. Dean marked mutant on him, and moved on. Sam marked human on another photograph of a man who was shirtless and in only his swimming trunks. No place to even hide wings there, and if they'd been cut off, well Dean doubted that Jace was a name for an angel.

"I think Jonathan is a mutant." Sam said, staring at the photo of a blond boy wearing all dark clothes. His startlingly gold eyes glared back at them from inside the photograph, and Dean wholeheartedly agreed.

By the time they had finished, both of their stomachs were growling and Sam went into the kitchen to make something for the both of them. Their father was out on a hunt, and Dean was the most hopeless cook there was. Now baking was something that the eldest Winchester could handle, but he would never admit it or bake anything near anyone who'd live to tell the tale. What? Dean liked pie! He had to have learned how to make it.

The next day was creeping up upon them quickly, and neither of them were expecting the chaos it would bring.

* * *

"So this Gabriel guy just flips out and creeps on your brother all day, is that it?" Dean was asked by Jo, who was carrying a large stack of books as she walked with him down the hall.

"Yeah, apparently he just barreled into Sam and never detached. He was waiting at the Middle school when I saw Sammy off this morning, a big ball of sunshine and fucking daisies." Dean rolled his eyes. He really didn't know what to think of Sammy's new friend, other than that he was not someone that was deterred easily. Even Dean's warning glare didn't seem to budge his cheery demeanor.

Jo hummed in agreement, sidestepping a large senior as they made their way to mutant class. The destination was in sight in less than a minute, but a larger issue stood in the way of the two friends.

Dean gulped. "Uh… Yo, Lisa."

His ex-girlfriend, Lisa Braeden, was the head cheerleader and a strong woman. Dean had liked that, so he'd dated her for quite a while. They'd been going steady when Dean had caught Lisa with a older guy, who had told Dean to back off Lisa. Dean'd told him to fuck himself instead. Lisa retaliated in the guy's defense, and that's where things started to get nasty. Dean had found a nice girl, named Cassie, and he'd cheated on Lisa to give her a taste of her own medicine. The whole affair blew up, and they hadn't remained friends.

And now she was standing in front of him, wearing a blouse, a pencil skirt, tights, and little slip-on shoes that had bows on the top. Lisa looked beautiful and perfect as when he'd started to date her. And clearly she had a bone to pick with him. This wouldn't end pretty.

"Dean." She acknowledged, nodding to each person she addressed. "Blonde slut."

Jo bristled immediately. Dean had to hold out his arm to keep her from jumping the cheerleader, and instead he pushed his friend towards the door of their classroom. "Hey now, Jo." Dean murmured. "Just go inside class and ignore her, okay? I'll deal with this."

"Because your new girlfriend can't fight back!" Lisa snapped.

Jo growled through her teeth, but she let Dean lead her into the classroom and shut the door behind her. Her eyes told Dean to be careful as she stared at him through the slit window on the door. He nodded, and she left to find a seat.

"Lisa, don't go beating on Jo. She and you got along well before. This is my mess, not Jo's. Leave her out of it." Dean turned his attention back to his ex. She scowled at him, her arms crossed.

"Guess what. I don't care about when we were babies back in middle school. We're grown ups now. You should give up and admit you want 'us' again. Take me back already."

Dean almost laughed. Really, Lisa? He didn't want to reignite the whole mess between them. He wanted to be friends, maybe with benefits. But just friends. None of that troublesome dating stuff. Lisa was the only one who had almost made it work, but it didn't. Dean wasn't going to go back rushing into her arms anytime soon.

"Lisa, no. I'm not going to date you again, especially after all you just did to my best friend. Let it go. We broke up. We're not going to get back together." He stated. And it was true. As long as she treated Jo like that, he wouldn't date her.

She stomped, and it was kind of cute, until she marched up to him and slapped Dean in the face. He stared as she ran off, brain temporarily shut down with the pain that prickled through his left cheek. As the second bell rang, Dean hurried inside his classroom, still a little dumbfounded.

Jo beckoned him over before Bobby could see that he was the only one standing in the room, and patted the seat next to hers. He managed to plop down before the beady eyes of his teacher focused on him.

"Dean Winchester, ya idjit. Gimmie yer homework from last night." Bobby Singer demanded, slightly meaty hand proffered. Dean pulled out his worksheets and handed them over. Hopefully he did decently…

Bobby laid the papers underneath the projector, and a blown up version appeared on the screen. The first person was facing up, the little script at the bottom of the photo telling them that the person's name was Thomas. Dean had marked this one as human, seeing no wings and he was unable to see any sign of abnormality either.

Bobby scoffed. "First one's right. Now this is a human 'cause humans have no wings and no other abnormalities…"

Dean recorded the lecture even better than he had the last class. He didn't want to miss anything or mess up in real life. He'd be Bobby's best student. He would.

* * *

In the end, Bobby held him after class to talk.

The gruff teacher stared him down before speaking. "Dean, I've heard stories 'bout you from other teachers, sayin' that you've no work ethnic-"

"It's the second day! I did my homework!" Dean protested. He really was going to do well in this class, he was going to try very hard. He had never liked a class so much, and he'd never wanted something so much.

"Shuddup, boy. I didn't say nothin' bad yet. I'm told that ya don't like homework neither, that ya never do yer work. I said I'd make you if ya wanted to stay in this class. Ya haven't messed up yet, but I think ya may need some help, tutorin' or summat."

Dean's shoulders fell. It was his second day and he'd even done all the work, and the teachers were already on his case for being a slacker.

"Sorry…" Dean mumbled, feeling let down. Trying hard wasn't enough, huh?

"Idjit. Ya wanna be a hunter like yer father, yeah? Well, I think you got it in ya to be one of the best. Ya need to listen here though." Bobby's voice shook him out of his reverie. "We'll work together after school, and I'll do some extra teachin' for ya if ya come and work for me. Stuff I don't teach at school 'cause of all the wimps who take these classes 'cause they think it's funny."

Dean perked up. "Really? What type of work? What type of stuff you don't teach at school?"

"Huntin' things, boy. Weaknesses in the wing that can take an angel right out of the sky, nets ta stop their powers, technology barriers, things that the schoolboard think are unnecessary for a mutant Defense class. They want self-protection, not hunters. I'll teach ya how to hunt. Your Daddy won't teach ya, will he?"

Somehow Bobby knew exactly what he was interested in, and how his Dad treated him at home. _Stay out of the family business Dean_, his father had always said. _Stay out of hunting and protect Sam. Do nothing more than protect Sam, don't try to protect other people. Don't try and save lives like I do._

"I'd do anything to learn all of that." Dean answered truthfully. He wanted this so bad. To learn how to save people from mutants. To learn how to save people, to keep them from ending up like his mom, pinned and burning alive on a ceiling from a mutant attack.

"Then I'll teach ya. On two conditions though, ya hear me?"

"Anything. I'll agree to pretty much anything."

Bobby seemed satisfied with this answer. "2.5 GPA or above at the end of the semester. And ya have to work at my garage on the weekends. I'll teach ya how to hunt, and workin' at the garage will help ya get some real muscle on ya instead of all that skinny."

Dean had yet to grow any real muscle or bulk and was ashamed to say he was still a pretty lanky kid growing like a sprout. He didn't take offense to Bobby calling him skinny, but he did gawk at the GPA Bobby set for him.

"2.5? I'm no genius!" Dean protested.

"Well, those are the rules. Right now you have a C in this class, but I'mma ignore that, we've only had one assignment. Get that up to a B and start on yer other classes, and I'll start teachin' ya. Those are the rules." Bobby didn't seem like he'd budge. Dean contemplated it. Extra work, on top of extra work, with lots of work. But yet, the tug of achieving his dream caused those words to slip out.

"I'll do it."

"Then I expect you at my garage by 7 AM, bright and early, on Saturday. Until then, don't get behind in yer classes." Bobby grinned. "It'll be a pleasure workin' with ya, Dean."

Dean grinned back. Oh yeah, this was going to be great.

* * *

**I know it's annoying, but you'll figure out what happens to Castiel and stuff later. it's just that I wanted to write this from Dean's point of view, and so therefore I'm writing it from Dean's point of view. Castiel is confusing for me. Also, I like time-skips. A lot.**

**And um, listen to Bobby 'cause he tells you a lot of important stuff. And do your homework, kids!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Enjoy the next chapter, and... what is this with the images? Does this mean I have to make covers and stuff now?**

* * *

Dean flung himself on Jo after the end of mutant Defense with an apology and a hug. She begrudgingly forgave him after a bit of sucking up.

"I don't see why you dated the bitch." She snorted, her arms crossed. Jo was right, any girl who was that rude to a friend of their ex's deserved to be dumped. If Jo had been alone with Lisa, Lisa would've headed home with one hell of a shiner and maybe a concussion depending on how the fight went.

Dean let out a little laugh. "We're over, Jo. Hopefully she'll leave both of us alone for quite a while. Although if she's hanging out with Ruby and Meg like rumor has it, we may have to deal with her again sooner than we think."

Ruby and Meg were the school's top bitches. Ruby was an addict, doing a drug called Angel Dust. The drug was illegal for many reasons, the use of ground mutants feathers the main one. It was a euphoric drug, and Ruby wasn't seen without some on her no matter where she was. Meg was a slut and she made a habit of trying to sleep with the best guys in school. Lisa wasn't that bad.

Jealous and domineering, maybe, but not an addict or a slut.

"I can't believe she'd go that dark side." Jo frowned. "I remember when I was the bitchier of the two of us."

Dean laughed. "How far one can fall!"

"It's not funny. What if she runs in with Crowley? I've heard he's part of Lucifer's human army, and Meg and Ruby hang out with him all the time." Jo picked at her salad worriedly.

"Lisa's a good girl at heart." Dean said, squeezing Jo's arm comfortingly. He really hoped his ex wouldn't fall as far as to help Lucifer murder innocent humans. Any human who sided with that monster was even worse than Lucifer himself. Turning on one's own people, killing innocents… that was a whole mess that Dean hated to think about.

"Hopefully rumor is just rumor." Ash added in, finally looking up from his latest hacking job that had something to do with illegal paperwork and a couple of stolen personal items. "Those three are bad news."

The three friends fell into silence.

"Do you think she'd be better if I'd never dumped her in the first place?" Dean asked, breaking it.

"Nah. Dude, don't blame yourself. She was going down that pathway by dating that asshole." Ash flashed him a grin, before returning to typing away. Dean really hoped that he was right, and that Dean had played no part in Lisa's descent into the darker places of the school's pyramid. He squared his shoulders and got ready to survive the rest of the school day.

* * *

After school, Sam and Gabriel were walking out together just like they had the day before. Dean scoffed from where he was waiting for them. He smiled too, secretly glad his brother had made a friend. Gabriel grinned back.

"Yo Sammy. Gabriel." Dean grabbed Sam's hand and was about to pull him off in the direction of the buses when Gabriel answered his cell phone. Sam stopped, just to say goodbye. Little Sammy didn't want to leave without saying goodbye because it'd be rude, oh how cute. Dean smirked down at his little brother as Gabriel listened to what seemed like a recorded message.

Gabriel's phone message didn't take too long, yet his skin paled, and his eyes widened as he continued to listen. He finally dropped his phone with a defeated moan, a horrible sound. At the moment, Gabriel seemed a lot less hyper than the day before. In fact, he seemed worried.

"Are you okay? You seem really down."

"I need to ask a favor of both of you. I'm sorry, I don't even really know either of you well, but it's an emergency." Gabriel looked dead serious, and almost on the verge of breaking down. Sam immediately ripped his hand out of Dean's and ran over to presumably comfort his friend. Dean just nodded.

"We're listening," Dean said. Gabriel seemed to be choosing his words carefully. Dean hoped it had nothing to do with drugs or gangs. Gabriel seemed nice, but Dean didn't want Sammy near an influence like that.

Finally, Gabriel said softly, "My little brother went missing today. I just got a phone call from his school and they said he ran away in the middle of class this morning. No one's seen him since. It may be too much to ask, but if you see a little kid, Sam's age, with black hair and blue eyes, tell me immediately."

Sam looked immediately less motherly and a lot more worried. "Really? I can't imagine being out and alone at my age! Are you sure he isn't at home?"

"My mom already checked." Gabriel said, his golden eyes solemn. "I think it's my fault. I left school and home to live on my own when I graduated, and I was his only real support back home. I haven't seen him since and now he's missing."

"Don't say that! It's not your fault, Gabe. You are allowed to make your own decisions. There's probably another good reason he left." Sam said, confident and sympathetic. Gabriel attempted a small smile. "We'll help you look for him, if that's what you meant!"

"…Thanks, Sammy." Gabriel's smile widened exponentially.

"It's what friends do. Let's go find your brother! Dean can phone home and tell Dad the situation, I'm sure he'd understand that we need to help a friend." Sam grabbed Gabriel's hand and began dragging him off in the direction of the suburbs in which the Winchesters lived.

"Sam, I'll catch up. Just let me call Dad and we can go looking." Dean nodded the two of them off. If the kid was anything like Sammy, then he was probably scared and lost. Dean's older brother instincts kicked in, and he was all for finding the kid.

"Thanks, Dean." Sammy flashed him a smile, grateful, and Dean forgave him for the painful phone call he'd have to make to their father. And painful it was, but at least he agreed. In less than three minutes of conversation, Dean was ready to chase after his brother and friend and start the search for the missing little brother.

* * *

It had been three hours, running after Gabriel in his oddly large coat, asking door to door, and still nothing. Dean was just about ready to give up. This was better left to the police. But seeing Gabriel's desperate eyes, and Sam's hard, cold determination, he rethought it. If it had been Sammy missing, Dean would've ripped this stupid city to shreds to find him. Everywhere he could possibly be.

They'd tried all sorts of suburbs and parks, Gabriel leading the search away from the main city with the reasoning that if his little brother really was lost, then he'd try to stay away from dangerous places and people that one could find in a bustling place like that. No one had even seen the boy, as Gabriel described him to home owner after home owner. Obviously it was Gabriel's hope that his brother had tried to find a place to stay for a while, away from home.

Didn't run-aways try to do things like that?

Still it was a fruitless search, and Dean was worn out. After three hours, Dean knew that they didn't have much of a choice. He had to head home with Sam, just to appease their Dad even if he might not even be home. Dad didn't care about Gabriel's little brother, or anything like that. He just wanted his own sons home and safe.

"Sam, it's late. 6:30 pm even, and Dad needs us home." Dean finally said, trying to put a stop to their fruitless search. If they hadn't found the kid yet, there was no reason to continue to search.

"But Dean! If you were lost, if I was lost, we'd never stop searching until we found each other-" Sammy protested, his voice taking on a low tone.

"The police will deal with it." Dean sighed, feeling guilty as he interrupted his brother. "Let's face it, this kid doesn't want to be found."

"Of course not." Gabriel snapped. "He ran away, didn't he? He's scared and alone, and if you leave, I'll stay out here looking until morning. I don't care if it's hopeless, I'm going to keep looking!"

Sam looked mortified at that. Dean grimaced. No, he had no hope of winning this argument now. Not with Sam in this mode. Stubborn Sam was more bull-headed than Dean, and Dean had been the reigning stubborn champion.

"Of course we'll stay and help you find him, Gabe!" Sam insisted, grabbing onto Gabriel's hand and dragging him off in the direction of the slums. Oh, hell no. Dean wasn't letting Sammy run through the slums alone with a guy he'd just met yesterday. Dean was going along.

"We're only going through with this until it gets dark, Sam. There's school tomorrow, and the police are looking for him too. They have a better chance of finding him and helping him then," Dean stated, laying down the rules. He would get Sam home before dark if it kills him.

The search continued on for the next hour, their wandering leading them farther and farther into what Dean called unsafe territory. They were in that section of town with the tall apartment buildings that were falling into pieces as you walked, the red brick covered in slime and the smell of oil floated up from the gutters. Trash littered the streets and there were shady people standing around outside their front doors smoking probably illegal drugs. Dean didn't like Sam being here, and this was the type of place where mutants were the least of their worries when the humans would shank you if you let them sneak up on you.

"Sam, this place is dangerous." Dean warned, but his brother ignored him. Gabriel gave him an apologetic look but it didn't do much to ease his irritation at this whole situation. They were headed towards the worst section of the entire city and Sam wasn't stopping there. No matter how tired and hopeless the searchers became.

Eventually, they stumbled to a stop at a park. Sam's feet were tired and sore from so much walking, and Dean had no idea how they would get home after this. Gabriel's features showed how exhausted he was and how much he wanted to find his brother and end this. The three settled on the swings, taking a brief break.

Dean was actually really worried for the kid. Where the hell was he?

"Thanks, Sam and Dean… but you really should get home. I'm sorry I dragged you into this." Gabriel's voice was sad and it dragged with worry.

"No." Sam didn't make it a question. "We're staying out here with you until we find your brother."

"Gabriel's right, Sam. It's twilight right now, soon it'll be too dark for us to be outside and Dad is already going to kill us when we get home." There was a sniffle, and Dean groaned. "Please, no crying either. I've already explained why we need to just go home!"

Sam and Gabriel both turned to look at him. He looked back at the both of them. Neither of them looked about ready to let the water works go… Yet they all heard another sniffle and a whimper.

Gabriel shot out of his swing and dashed for the playground to see if they could find any kids hiding out there. Especially if they looked to be related to the ex-high schooler.

Dean let Sam go for the parking lot, while he himself headed off towards the creek and the little bridge there. Walking down the muddy slopes, he heard the sound of crying get louder. Trying not to slip, Dean peeked underneath the bridge.

It was too dark to see well enough, but there was a figure in the shadows. Dean approached with caution, ducking underneath the bridge himself and crouching on his knees to get a good look at the other. It was still too dark for him to see the figure clearly, but it looked like a boy around Sam's age.

Hoping desperately that this was the kid, he grinned and shuffled a little closer while trying not to fall into the water or bump his head on the ridiculously low bridge.

"Go away!" The kid cried, wiping his nose on his ridiculously large trench coat. It was sagging off his shoulders and urgently, he hurried to readjust it immediately. Dean tried his best not to look imposing.

"I'm a friend, kid. Why don't you come out and-"

Sam's voice interrupted whatever he had to say. "Did you find them, Dean?"

Cursing mentally as the kid flinched away, further underneath the bridge to where Dean could no longer make out anything about him, Dean called back, "There is a kid underneath here!"

The kid whimpered loudly. "All of you stay away from me! I'll hurt you!"

The threat was so empty that Dean almost laughed. How could a kid Sammy's size hurt him? This kid didn't look like he could kick a puppy so Dean said, "I doubt that."

Gabriel ducked underneath the bridge and immediately cried out in relief. "Castiel! You're here! I was… Castiel!"

Gabriel grabbed onto the boy's trench coat and pulled him into his arms and equally large and ridiculous coat. Dean smiled. So this was Gabriel's brother. Finally. They had found the kid. Although Castiel was a rather odd name for a boy, like those names on the mutant sheets… angel names, or whatever.

"Gabriel… You're hurting me." The kid said, Castiel or whatever. Gabriel made no moves to let his brother go.

"I'm so glad we found you before anything else could. How dumb are you?" Gabriel scolded. "Running away, when things are dangerous for people like us out here!"

"I'm not defenseless, Gabriel." Castiel snorted. "I'm not like the rest of the people like us but that doesn't make me unable to protect myself."

People like us… What a weird way of phrasing children, especially when Gabriel wasn't even really a kid anymore, Dean thought.

And then it all clicked. Dean wasn't stupid. The coats, really large and baggy to the point that the figure underneath wasn't visible, the odd angel names, everything fit. And Dean felt rather stupid for not realizing it earlier. He'd been worried about gangs, and other bad influences, but he never thought that it would be this bad. This was dangerous. He could leave, and let Sam try to avoid both of them, or call the police, or something, but Dean wasn't like that.

He did head on collisions if he was going to collide. He didn't run.

Scrambling out from underneath the bridge, Dean held Sam at arm's length away from the two. "Gabriel… I think you have some serious explaining to do." Dean growled. He had no weapons, and the mutants could kill him at any moment, but he'd rather be proved wrong and see them both pull off their coats and show him that they had no wings, and no scars. Gabriel bristled, and Dean felt that hope extinguish.

"Oh, the dumb one figures it out first." Gabriel snarled, pulling his brother out from underneath the bridge. Standing in front of the brothers and glaring into their eyes, the elder mutant laughed cruelly. His brother stood behind him, clinging to the other's baggy coat.

Castiel, as the mutant was apparently called, had blue eyes and ash dark hair that clung to his forehead from the sludge. He was dirty and covered in mud and a million other things. Dean would've felt sorry for the kid, except that he knew that this Castiel was a killer.

"There's no need for these stupid coats, then." Gabriel taunted, about to shed his disguise. Dean stared intently, wanting to see a pair of mutant wings in real life for the first time. Especially if these mutants intended to kill him.

"Brother!" The kid, Castiel, cried. "No, you can't! Don't do this, let me explain! I can't have them know!"

"What's going on?" Sam hissed in a hushed whisper.

"They're mutants." Dean growled. "That's why they have to wear those coats, to hide their wings. The only mutants outside of the reserve are part of Lucifer's Army, and that means they're both killers. They used this to lure us out here, where they could peg our deaths off as some human and get off without anyone suspecting anything."

Gabriel's eyes hardened to daggers. Castiel just stared at them, wide eyed and somehow innocent.

"We're no killers!" The kid protested, whose contrast between his wide white-blue eyes and black hair made him seem angelic almost right then. "I'm not a killer! I would never join Lucifer; I never wanted to leave the reserve, please everyone just… just… listen to me!"

At his last word, all the birds flew out of the trees and a silence fell over the boys as the fourth one caught his breath. While they watched, he slowly peeled off his trench coat to reveal a set of ebony wings bundled underneath. He stretched them out, pulling them to his full wingspan, only about 4'11" to match his height. How all of that had been hidden behind that coat was remarkable.

Seeing a mutant for the first time in real life chilled Dean to the bone. How horribly would he die? Would they shred him and kill him first and make his brother watch, or vice versa? But it was also horribly fascinating, as he couldn't stop staring and observing them.

"Gabriel, this is all your fault!" Castiel started, tearing right into his brother. "You left me alone in there! You left me alone in the reserve knowing full well what they were going to do to me!"

Gabriel flinched away. "I'm sorry. I finally found a way out, and I couldn't bring myself to go back…"

Sam withdrew a gasp, horrified. "You left your own brother alone in the mutant reserve? And you spent all that time doing nothing but trying to be friendly with me! How could anyone just leave their family like that?"

Of course that's what Sam took offense to.

"And they did! I know that Chuck won't let anyone hurt Balthazar for helping me, but Michael would've tried to after I left! If it wasn't for Balthazar, I'd be like them!" Castiel pointed at Sam and Dean. "Stripped of my wings… and you left me?"

Gabriel couldn't even look at him. "I'm sorry." He choked.

Dean stared between them. This could take all day. He was about to do something incredibly stupid. He'd never done anything as stupid as this, but he hoped he wouldn't regret it.

"Hey! You two! You're not going to do this thing out there, not like this! I'm going to regret this, but things will get nasty out in the open like this." Dean finally butted in. "Castiel, right? It's getting dark, you're soaking wet and covered in mud, and Sam and I need to get home. You're a kid, and I don't leave kids out at night in shady parts of town, covered in sludge. You are coming home with us. Both of you."

"What? Dean, they're mutants and they're dangerous!" Sammy pleaded, his hands gripping onto Dean's arm like a lifeline. He was even more terrified than Dean, and that was saying something. Dean took a moment to try to calm himself down.

"Whatever. We'll be arrested if anyone sees us with them and we're not trying to detain them and send them back. We'll be injured, arrested, or killed any which way. If they are telling the truth, and they were going to hurt the kid and Gabriel really is innocent, then I'd hate myself for turning them in. And we might not even be able to. This way, we don't get arrested, and then maybe we can work out what the hell is going on. Castiel, put your coat back on. We're going back to our house."

Dean had no idea why he said it, but he was glad he did. Four bus tickets later, and while the silence was eating them all up, it was better than the hatred and pain that had contaminated the air before.

* * *

Dean helped Castiel into his and Sam's shower. Their dad was taking an all-nighter and would nap at the office, so neither brother was worried about getting caught with mutants in their home tonight. Dad would just have to kill them later, and Dean was glad for the solitude for once.

Gabriel was already asleep on their couch, and Sam had snuggled up to him in his tiredness.

Castiel fumbled hopelessly with the shower, unable to fit his wings inside comfortably let alone attempt to wash them of the grime that had accumulated from underneath the bridge. Dean sighed, watching from his perch on the toilet seat.

"I'll help, you know." He said, completely confused by his own actions.

"I don't need it." Once Castiel had gotten out of his fury at Gabriel, and his sobbing fit before, he'd been emotionless. Dean didn't know what to think of that, either. He did know that the mutant was never going to get clean at this point.

Since Dean had forbidden either mutant to wander without either of them to watch them, he was stuck watching the kid shower. He might as well help the kid out too since he seemed to be unable to wash himself properly.

"You can't do this by yourself." Dean pointed out. He shucked off his t-shirt and his jeans to leave only his boxers, before stepping into the cramped space with the angel. "I'm helping, whether you like it or not. You have to sleep in someone's bed tonight, and it better not be mine if you insist on keeping yourself gross."

Castiel didn't say anything else as Dean took a bar of soap and started massaging it into the wet mass of feathers. Occasionally as he scrubbed, a father or two would stick to his skin and slip off only as his hand as too far away to stay

"This is why you don't hide underneath bridges in dirty children's parks in the slums, yeah?"

Castiel was silent as he washed his mop of inky black hair in front of him. Dean tried to fight the urge to say something as he continued cleaning off the younger kid's feathers. It was awkward, but Dean kept trying to think of Castiel as Sam, and that made it better. He'd taken showers with Sam before and washed Sam's hair for him.

It wasn't until Castiel murmured, "We groom each others wings as a sign of affection. I didn't want your help because only Gabriel and Balthazar have been allowed to touch my wings before."

That really didn't help with the awkwardness. Dean internally moaned, before returning to his task, his cheeks slightly redder than before.

"I have an affection for clean sheets. Not dirty ones. Therefore, I like your wings clean. And you cannot clean them. I am doing this solely for my own selfish reasons." Dean told the boy sternly, glaring a little to accent his point.

"… I can't hurt you, Dean." Castiel finally replied, out of the blue.

"I didn't think you could."

"You said earlier that we were mutants and killers from Lucifer's Army. But it's not true. I can't hurt you. I don't have a power." Castiel's tone was actually regretful.

Dean blinked, stopping his scrubbing of the kid's wings. "You have no power? Is that why they wanted to cut your wings off, because you're a mutant reject?"

"No." Castiel said as he stared back at him. Dean shuffled back a few steps to give the mutant more room. The black wings were shining like new anyway. He had no business being so close anymore, although Dean was reluctant to step out of the shower yet for the warm water keeping him from shivering in his skin.

"You have no power." Dean said, suddenly realizing why that would be troubling. "No power, and black wings!"

"What was that about my wings?" Castiel pulled the appendages away from Dean's wandering fingers.

"My Defense Against Mutant's teacher said that no mutant had ever been recorded with black wings, like crows or ravens."

"But I do."

"Yeah, and no power either. That's got to mean something!" Dean jumped out of the shower in his excitement, grabbing a towel and dragging the other boy with him towards the living room. Neither turned off the shower on the way.

Dean threw the towel onto Castiel's head, running over to the couch where Sam and Gabriel were wrapped up in sleep. He shook his younger brother awake thoroughly, waking up the other mutant through the sheer force of the tremors.

"Sammy! One thing I wrote down from Bobby was that there was no mutant with black wings, but look at Castiel! His wings are black! But he doesn't have a power!" Dean's green eyes were shining with excitement. Sam's opened only a little before sliding closed.

"Tired, Dean… sleep now." Sam muttered blearily. Dean's shoulders slumped.

"We talk tomorrow." Gabriel confirmed, wrapping his arms around Sam and pulling the much younger boy onto his chest for a more comfortable position. Dean frowned. He wasn't sure if he was okay with that development, especially since he had half a mind to shoot Gabriel where he lay.

Castiel had wrapped the towel around his waist before he spoke. "Dean, let them sleep. It is late, and whatever thing you think you know, write it down."

Dean shrugged, dragging Castiel back down the hallway. Castiel had to use his only free hand to keep his towel up.

"You sleep in Sam's room, and we deal with you and your feathers tomorrow." Dean said, before walking into his room. He fell down on his bed, sleep finally trying to take him. He yawned. Had he been this tired before?

He pulled out his mutant Defense class notebook and he wrote down next to '_No mutant has BLACK [crows/ravens] wings… power assumed to be death/evil related'_ the small words, _'except Castiel who has NO power._' And with that, Dean passed out on his bed, pencil still in hand.

* * *

**You all better love me to death, seriously. Updating this again so soon? Ugh, next chapter will take far longer. But yet, there is Castiel. And his fabulous has been introduced to the story! Isn't he adorable in his adorableness?**

**My next update should be for Power or Curse or Coldwater Sunflowers, we'll see. I'm determined to finish PoC first, since I'm almost done writing it, so that might take a while, just because 88 pages worth of work takes priority over this, which has... um... not really that much put into it. I'll start writing this more seriously, don't worry.**

**This fic won't actually be that long, though. *shrugs***


	4. Chapter 3

**An update? *le gasp* I can't say that these will be more frequent, but I can say that now that I have internet on my main computer, which I type all of my stories on, I will be updating a earlier than before. I promise you guys at least that much.**

* * *

The next morning was even more awkward than Dean had predicted. Gabriel had not moved from the couch, Sam was trying to cook breakfast, and Castiel stood stiffly in the corner. It was like everyone was ignoring the giant problem sitting right in front of their faces, and no one was willing to acknowledge it. Dean made himself the first to speak up.

"Okay, this elephant in the room is being discussed now. Sam and I have school in an hour, so everything important is coming out now. And no long complicated stories either." Dean demanded, his arms crossed indignantly. He focused his glare on Gabriel in specific, mainly because he found the mutant to be the least trustworthy and the most obnoxious.

"Well, if you want it laid out simple…" Gabriel moaned from the couch. "Then, I'll tell it. Cassie doesn't know the meaning of simple."

Castiel fixed Gabriel with a look, but he didn't respond.

"Dean, they don't have to tell us about anything! They're powerful and they're dangerous, let's not piss anyone off…" Sam warned from the kitchen, his back turned on the breakfast he was preparing for a quick minute.

"We're not going to hurt anyone." Castiel said, his tone flat and unquestioning.

"We helped you find Castiel and we gave you a place to stay for the night. Gabriel, you owe us." Dean stated. "So tell, stop putting this off. We're wasting time."

Gabriel stood up, and finally took off his coat. His wings, the massive things, unfurled from his back and spread out to encompass the entire living room. They were brown and white, like Falcon's wings, and one could just take a quick peek and see how dangerous Gabriel was.

Those were the wings of a hunter.

"Hi, I'm Gabriel. I'm an Archangel class mutant, recently turned 18 and gained adulthood in the reserve by graduating the Crucible Academy for mutants. My power is my mind, I can speak to anyone no matter the distance, and I can influence people by commanding them. I ran away from the reserve because I discovered something I never wanted to know. And I left my little brother there alone."

He made it seem so simple.

Castiel spoke up next, pulling off his own coat. His wings shone in the morning sunlight, and Dean had to tear his eyes away from where his fingers had carded through only the night before.

"My name is Castiel, and I do not have a class specification. I am a powerless mutant who attended Crucible Academy for mutants only until they discovered my lack of ability. They told me that since I have no power, my wings are useless and I would have them removed as to keep the mutant gene pure and to separate me into a position of work that befits one of my status. I left the Academy and reserve only to realize that I was not safe. I found an appropriate hiding place, and I waited to die."

Sam gasped and dropped his kitchen supplies to run over to the dark winged mutant. "You waited to die?" He repeated, shocked.

Dean stared at Castiel again, really looking this time. He was the same height, the same age, pretty much same build as Sammy. He was 11 years old. No one that age should ever think they want to die. What if that had been Sammy hidden underneath that bridge, starving and terrified and lost and hopeless, only to be found by strangers? What if he'd been Gabriel, and he'd left Sammy alone somewhere that drove him to that point?

"I'm so sorry. But if you had known what I did… you'd get out of there as fast as you could." The other mutant choked out, his golden eyes fixed on the floor. Gabriel shied away from Castiel's look, his wings curling in around himself.

"We know enough, then." Dean butted in. "We have about 10 minutes to eat and get off to school. If you have somewhere to go, then scram, but if you don't… then stay here in our rooms and keep your coats on at all times."

Sam dashed back to save his neglected food, while the two mutants stared at Dean like he was crazy.

"I'm not kidding. Our dad's a hunter. If I could figure it out, then he will as soon as he sees you. If you stay in our rooms, he probably won't check, and if he's out running town, he'll run into you. Try not to leave." Dean stated, walking over to pick up Castiel's coat. He helped the kid into his, watching in awe as those big black wings tucked in on themselves and pressed against his back enough that they only looked like an odd bump.

Sam handed everyone a plate of burnt eggo waffles, having been left inside the toaster for too long. They all ate in basic silence, until the clock ticked and the two school boys had to run.

"I hope they're all right at home…" Sam worried, his bottom lip nibbled on. Dean shrugged, pulling his brother into the bus stop tirelessly.

"I hope I'm making the right decision. I still think we should report them to the reserve and get them both dragged back before someone who's a lot less nice decides they both don't deserve their lives as servants of Lucifer." Dean grumbled. It was risky and stupid, but he saw Castiel and he just related him to Sammy. Dean wouldn't let anything bad ever happen to Sammy, and dammit if he was going to let Castiel get hurt too.

The school silenced Dean's thoughts, as he turned back into the usual pull of the day, mutants and angels far from the forefront of his thoughts.

* * *

Bobby woke up a part of Dean's brain that had fallen silent, the part of him that saw mutant and saw enemy and couldn't differentiate between the two. The elder hunter gave him a look, and he had no choice in remembering their deal.

Jo gave him an odd look. She waved her hand in front of his eyes before class had begun to get his attention, but he continued to stare off into space. Sighing, she finally punched him in the chest.

"Hey. Wake up, loser!" She snapped her fingers right in front of his eyes and Dean turned to focus on the tiny blonde now that she had finally shook him out of his trance.

"Yeah?"

"You're totally zoned out. I thought you had to pass this class in hopes of getting a hunter's permit. You can't hunt mutants without one, and we all know how much you want that." Jo nodded, confirming something in her head. "There's something you're not telling me."

Dean laughed a little, scared about how observant she had proven to be. "No worries, it's nothing. Sam and me just got into a spot of trouble last night with the old man."

Or they would be, if Gabriel and Castiel were found by their father. Either way, it wasn't a complete lie.

Jo pursed her lips. "What'd you do this time?"

"Hey!" Dean protested. "Nothing, we just stayed out way late. Hung out with some of Sam's friends, lost track of time. Came back after sunset, Dad got pissed, nothing too bad. But I'm not in his good books, not when he's out working a case and we're not safe at home like he told us too."

Jo accepted that answer better, and she turned to the front as Bobby started class. Their teacher was giving Dean a look, and Dean tried not to read too much into it. Whatever Bobby thought he knew, now wasn't the time to go pursuing paranoia. He didn't do anything bad, and nothing the former hunter could find on him would prove it.

Today's lesson was about mutant's eyes.

"Now listen here, y'all. Second step in identifyin' a mutant is the eyes. If they don't have no visible wings and ya can't tell if they're mutant or not, look to the eyes."

A close up of a vibrant golden eyes appeared on the screen. Dean blinked… that eye… he knew that eye… Gabriel! That was definitely Gabriel's eye! He tried not to show his surprise, or flinch as Bobby zoomed in more on the iris.

"Look at the patterns. They look normal, just vibrant and pretty, eh? But this twistin' and turnin' right here in the iris is somethin' all mutants share."

Dean looked carefully. Bobby was right, there was a distinct pattern in Gabriel's eye that one had to get real close to see. He hadn't thought much of it, in fact it was barely noticeable. Only under scrutiny and close up did he notice it. The bright gold strands were woven into what looked like a braid, with a dark hazel underneath in the holes that the gold did not cover. It wasn't very alarming, but his eye was kind of uniform, with the braids of gold and the strands of hazel layered underneath.

"In comparison, it's a lot clearer. The normal human eye is very twisted, the fibers and many colors in the iris are arranged what looks like haphazardly. This is why eye scannin' as a protection works, because every normal human has a unique pattern in their iris."

With a side by side comparison, the contrast was astounding. Gabriel's eyes looked alien, and threatening, in comparison with the duller brown of the normal human's eye.

"Bobby?" Dean asked. "Isn't it kind of dangerous to go up to a mutant and look them in the eye? Wouldn't they not let you get so close?"

Gabriel and Castiel never had let him close enough to tell that about their eyes, and he'd been inside a cramped shower with one of them. How the hell did one look into an actual dangerous one's eyes without dying?

"Well, that's why ya look for the wings first. Eyes come next; if they want to blend in with us normal humans, then they'll let us get real close. They'd try to get right where they could cause the most damage, and hide themselves among us. To not arouse suspicion, they'd let ya get really close. Especially if ya are of the opposite gender, and ya seem attracted to them. All the more power they can gain that way." Bobby explained in his gruff voice. Dean scribbled down notes as quickly as he could, thinking about Gabriel and Castiel.

If they were trying to hide, and get into better positions, they wouldn't have revealed themselves as mutants. Maybe Gabriel had attempted to do so, but Castiel threw that all off for him. Gabriel might not be safe, but Castiel was. Dean frowned. He still couldn't go trusting either of them, no matter how innocent.

"Well, next is a thing ya can tell from a distance! Their eyes will be very bright, supercharged, vibrant, all sorts of things, and they'll stand out. There is a variety of color, and any unnatural colors that aren't from contacts should alarm a person right away. Darn those colored contacts."

Jo laughed. Bobby's death glare silenced her half-giggled, and she settled back down in her seat.

"Little lady, ya have no idea what those goddamned colored contacts have done to the huntin' business. They can make a mutant's eyes look completely normal, and they can make a human's eyes look mutant. Now, they can slip past yer defenses and trick ya in all the visible ways that could tip a hunter off and mean the difference from life… an' death."

Bobby's last words were chilling. Dean shivered, and stayed cold for the rest of the class.

* * *

At the end of class, Bobby pulled him aside again. "What'cha been up to, kid? Now, we haven't learned 'bout no smelling stuff, but ya better not be off tryin' to hunt them mutants yet. I can smell it right on ya."

"What?" Dean gulped. "No, you've got it all wrong, I took a shower this morning, how do I smell funny?"

That didn't stop Bobby's eyes from taking on a hard glint. "So ya didn't know about that mutant that rubbed it's scent all over ya?"

"O-of course not!" Dean protested, his eyes widening in fear. Scent? Mutants had a scent? Castiel was in his house, and if his dad came home and smelled freaking mutant, then everyone could be dead! "They have a scent?"

"Did yer Daddy teach you nothin'? Mutants have a distinct smell, that's tomorrow's lesson for ya. I have a few bottles of their musk to show ya kids, to get a good grip on their scent. At first I though one of 'em was leaking and that's why I smelt it, but no, it's definitely coming from ya, ya idjit. Don't get yer panties in a bunch, I'mma trained hunter which is why I can smell it."

"I didn't go hunting for mutants, I haven't even been…" Dean trailed off as Bobby saw the lie clear in his eyes. "Okay, so I've been near some, don't shoot me."

"Where, ya idjit?" Bobby hounded on him. "Tell me where before they kill someone! I'll get 'em taken care of for darin' to go after one of my students!"

Dean shook his head. "You don't get it, they're not bad! They're not even adults, they're kids!"

Bobby froze up. "Fledglings, ya say? How did Fledglings get out of the reserve? The only fledgling that's gone missin' is that Castle kid an' everyone's freakin' out over…"

They both seemed to realize what the other was thinking, and Bobby gave Dean a hard look.

"You're comin' with me, an' we're pickin' up that fledgling from wherever ya stowed him. Ya couldn't hide a mutant to save yer life. In this case, it will be savin' yer life, so come with me. Hurry, kid!"

"But you can't hurt him! You can't! He's just eleven!" Dean chased Bobby out through the halls and into the parking lot. Bobby thrust Dean into his truck, and slid into the driver's seat.

"You're not gonna tell me what to do, idjit. Now, gimmie directions before that fledglin' of yers gets himself killed! I'm not gonna hurt no kid, not one who's innocent." Bobby snapped back, and there was no lie in his eyes. He knew he could trust him.

Dean didn't hesitate in giving directions to his house.

* * *

"Ya put angels up in yer house? Are ya dumb?" Bobby grumbled, climbing up the front doorsteps after Dean, who was fumbling to get his key into the lock. Dean just shrugged, more focused on getting them inside without alarming or frightening either mutant.

Once the door clicked, he turned to Bobby and said, "I don't care if you won't listen to me about nothing, but this is important. You can't say anything until they both come down, because neither of them trusts me yet, and they definitely won't trust you, and I don't want to hurt either of them."

"Ya could'a just asked." The older man answered, not too irritated with the command. "But, they? Ya got more than yer fledgling holed up in there?"

"I've got his older brother too. And you don't want a fight. Because while Castiel is pretty much as harmless as a bunny rabbit, Gabriel is rather over protective." Dean admitted.

Bobby's eyes bulged. "Ya got THE Gabriel in there? He's an Archangel, he's one of the four most powerful mutants in the world, and you're sayin' he's in yer house?"

"He called himself Gabriel, not sure if he is or not… Those eyes we were examining today, they were definitely his. I recognized."

Bobby frowned. "Those weren't Gabriel's eyes, dumb boy. Those were the eyes of the most famous mutant, the one we call the original. The first discovered, his eyes were known as the Sun, and they shone like the stars. Mutants don't age like we do, not after they turn 18... those eyes were well over 500 years old. Those weren't Gabriel's eyes, they were his father's."

"What?" Dean's mouth gaped. "They looked exactly like Gabriel's! But… then, if Castiel is Gabriel's brother… why does he have blue eyes?"

Bobby shrugged. "Beyond me, now's not the time for mutant genetics. Let's get inside. I promised not to raise a ruckus."

Dean nodded, trusting, and he opened the door. Only to be met eye to eye with the gold eyes he'd just been discussing. He jumped back into Bobby's stout form, his heart pounding faster than before.

"So you figured it out before Cassie, eh? Now, we don't want that little secret getting out." Gabriel said cheerfully. His golden eyes sparked with mischief and danger.

"Uh…" Dean stared straight at Gabriel's sinister face before swallowing and glancing at the ground.

"So you're Gabriel." Bobby said, pushing Dean out of the way. "This idjit doesn't know what he's doing yet, and yer trail is all over town. John Winchester himself is out tracking you, and they've put a bounty on the fledgling's head. I can help ya, but ya can't stay here."

Gabriel sighed. "Good things only last so long. Well, don't stand outside… come in, come in. We can talk. But we talk quietly, for the little one is sleeping."

Dean nodded, dumbstruck, and he wandered inside like an intruder into his own home. He found himself making his way up the stairs, to find Castiel and perhaps give him a hug or something. He was supposedly sleeping, and if he was, then Dean would come back down and join in Bobby and Gabriel's conversations. If Castiel wasn't, then Dean could fuss over him and generally make himself feel needed.

Dean just didn't want to be caught in whatever crossfire that Gabriel and Bobby would start. In fact, Castiel felt like so much more of a safer choice that he was already up the stairs and down the hallway before he could convince himself it was a bad idea.

He crept into Sam's bedroom. The angel lay spread out, his wings draping on the floor like satin curtains. His eyes were wide open as Dean made his way inside, and Dean flashed him a smile.

"Why are you back so early?" Castiel whispered, turning over to get a good look at Dean.

"I came back with some help, to get you two somewhere safer. My dad's a hunter, so if he catches a glimpse, or apparently a whiff, of you, you'll be shot dead within the hour. He's good, he saves lives, but he sees everything as black or white. Either it's black and evil, or white and good, and something can't be both. He'll see you as evil right away, and he won't stop to ask questions."

"Then you're making us leave?" Castiel asked in a serious tone, showing little emotion. But what emotion Dean did sense betrayed that the angel was scared or lonely or perhaps both.

"I'm giving you a safer place to stay." Dean said, his hand reaching out to fix the mutant's unruly hair. "I can't let you get hurt, not if it's my dad."

The angel nodded. "I understand. But, for what it is, I… I think I should like it if I saw you again after we part ways."

Dean blinked. That was what Castiel had been down over? Really? He laughed. It was so childish and so innocent that Dean didn't even think of Sam- Sam had always wanted to off on his own, independent. No, the action was purely Cas.

"Hey, it's Bobby's! I'm gonna go there all the time, especially once I get my grades up, you'll see too much of me. No worries, I'll be around." Dean ruffled the mutant's hair and gave him a goofy grin. "Now let's go stop Bobby and Gabriel from killing each other-" At the look in Castiel's eyes, Dean amended his statement with, "-from their stuffy old people behavior."

"I see…" Castiel nodded slowly. "We should prevent this."

The angel trudged out of the room and downstairs, his wings trailing on the beige carpet behind him like a black bride's veil. Little black feathers were left stuck to the carpet, and Dean realized he'd have to do a lot of vacuuming before his dad got home, or he was so dead.

In fact, a full house cleaning might be needed.

Gabriel and Bobby were talking in low voices, but at the sight of Castiel drifting down the stairs, they silenced.

"Yo, bro." Gabriel walked over and smoothed down a few awry downy feathers on his little brother's wings. "Looking good."

"Dean tells me that you are here to help us, Mr." Castiel addressed Bobby sharply, looking him straight in the eyes, headstrong. Dean would've whistled, the little mutant was convincingly scary at the moment with his wings puffed up.

"That's my intention." Bobby answered in a gruff voice. "Ya need to come with me back to my house so ol' John Winchester doesn't put a bullet in yer bird brains."

"I take offense to that." Gabriel quipped.

"Shuddup." Bobby told him, before giving his attention back to Castiel. "So what're we waitin' for? Get in the truck everyone, quicker the better."

* * *

Bobby's house was pretty much what Dean had expected of it. In the middle of nowhere, on the outskirts of the city and with a large car park out front, it was once a white-picket fence kind of home. Obviously, it hadn't been treated with the respect of one, and now it looked like a messy country house that was barely still standing.

Castiel stared at it, looking partly repulsed and partly admiring. Gabriel just looked ticked, and Bobby grunted. Dean liked the place already.

He could imagine himself working on a car as Castiel sat out on the porch, talking about something aimlessly. Sam and Gabriel would be sitting on the hood of a nearby car, chattering just as aimlessly. Bobby would be inside, a big glass of lemonade in hand and a book in the other.

It just felt like home, and Dean grinned.

"Home sweet home now, for you two." He poked Castiel in the side, hinting at his vision of the future even if he knew that Castiel was unlikely to stay there long enough for such an image. It was safer, better for everyone if they didn't, even. Bobby would be in danger, Cas in danger, even Gabriel wouldn't be safe.

"We will be staying here." Castiel said softly, his blue eyes twinkling in an odd way. Like he was going to cry, and Dean really hoped that he was just imaging things.

Gabriel snorted. "For a while, anyway. Cassie, you're not getting attached to this place, you hear me? This is temporary. Until I can find a way to stash you back in the reserve somehow-"

"No!" Castiel's eyes had turned into a blue fire. "No! I don't have any powers, I'm not going back! I'm never going back!"

Bobby gave Castiel a look. Perhaps he hadn't heard of this before, and he looked Castiel over again, to see if he missed anything.

"That's impossible. You're a black wings with no power?" Bobby frowned. He stroked his beard, scanning Gabriel and then Castiel again. Dean wondered what exactly that would do, their physical appearances had been prancing in front of Bobby for the whole drive and ever since they arrived at the house.

"He's telling the truth, he really doesn't have a power." Dean vouched, trying to soothe the now tense fledgling. Castiel stood with his back straight, stiff and glaring at Bobby. His black wings fluttered a little in the wind, the feathers ruffled and out of place. Dean realized in an afterthought that he kind of wanted to mess them up a little more, to see how they felt under his fingers again.

Bobby shook his head in confusion, before grabbing Castiel by the hand and leading him inside. Gabriel and Dean trailed after, shutting and locking the door behind them.

Because if this was home, there needed to be a lot of adjustments.

* * *

**So. Next chapter will take a spot longer, since I have a lot of work to do on it. But I hope you enjoy this one. Also, I am getting to the Crobby. Yep. Things start to go down next chapter and it will be awesome. I hope. Thanks for all the reviews, you guys, and I would love a ton more! Oh, and the favorites and everything else!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Omg, finally, a new chapter! Sorry for the wait, I'm such an awful writer. Okay, I worked on this all night and now my fingers are sore, so I'm just gonna keep this short and say thanks a million for the reviews! I love you all, my wonderful readers!**

* * *

Bobby liked to believe that unnerving him was a little difficult. Because he was gruff, tough, in shape, in his early 30's. The beard kept most everyone away romantically, and the fact he was a bonafide Mutant hunter with a large amount of kills attributed to his reputation.

It was rare that he was held up by anyone.

"So I think we should make a little deal." The scottish accent was horrendous as the words, and the little beaky student sitting on his desk flashed him one of the smirks that made his ugly little face actually look even more like a piece of slime.

Bobby stared back. This student in particular wasn't in any of his classes, and he'd only heard bad rumours about him. He'd probably confirm all of them; this kid was obviously up to no good.

He had black hair, an unfortunate nose, and pale white skin that made him look like an insane asylum patient. The kid was wearing a ratty black shirt that had the words, "Check out my ZOMBIE t-shirt" printed on it and dark acid wash jeans with little drawings on them in black Sharpie; he was quite the artist if his jeans were anything to judge by. But none of these things really tipped off Bobby to how bad this kid really was unlike the bright red hickey right underneath the kid's ear.

Wasn't there a rule in life that said that nerdy ugly little goth kids never got laid?

"I don't make deals, kid." Bobby growled, giving him a look that should've sent the kid running for mommy.

The kid laughed, and jumped off of Bobby's desk. "I think you'll make one with me."

Cocky and confident, huh? Damn, he really hadn't wanted to call in security to deal with this brat. It was afterschool hours and Bobby just wanted to get back home. After all, Castiel and Gabriel still managed to get themselves into heaps of trouble and Bobby didn't want his house to burn down. Not yet, anyway.

"Teachers don't make deals with students. Now scram." Bobby told him, trying to push around him to get to his desk. The student smirked, and stepped right in front of him, blocking his way.

"Baby, there's two ways this will work. The easy way, or the hard way." The kid was still wearing that horrible little smirk.

"Are you delusional, idjit?" Bobby took a step back. "I'm a teacher."

"Nah…" The kid's beady black eyes went straight to his own, confident. "You're a hunter."

What the hell was this? The kid was practically crawling all over him, keeping him from dealing a good verbal hit and knocking off his contestant.

Bobby glared at him, grabbing the kid's shirt and pulling up. "Get out of my classroom."

Instead of knocking a good sense of fear into the brat, it only seemed to incense him. Legs wrapped around his own, the kid's scrawny body pressed flush up against his, the kid's arms looping around his neck.

Dammit, Bobby dropped the kid's shirt just as he heard a click and a flash lit up the entire classroom. He flung the kid across the classroom, but he saw that the damage had already been done. Someone had a picture of that.

He could loose his job over this.

"I knew you wouldn't cooperate unless you had some motivation. Now, listen to me and we'll make a deal." The kid sneered, wiping his mouth. Even having been thrown across the room, his voice still remained steady and seamless.

He was furious, but what could he really do now? That picture got out and he'd loose his job, maybe go to jail.

"What do you want, you fucking brat?" Screw niceness, because obviously they wouldn't report him for it now.

"My name is Crowley." The kid corrected. "And I don't want anything. Lucifer does."

Lucifer…? So the rumours were true, this kid was working for Lucifer. A human toy for that mutant's plans of destruction. But what could Lucifer want of him?

Had Lucifer heard about Gabriel and Castiel? Is that why, or did he just want Bobby's hunter services somehow? This could get smelly. Bobby would rather loose his job than work for Lucifer but if this put Castiel or Gabriel or even Dean in danger, he might cooperate.

"I know, a kid? Working for Lucifer? It's not that big of a deal. I'm what he calls a Crossroads Demon. I come at people who have hit this crossroads and make them a deal. Usually it benefits us both. It's not one-sided, of course." Crowley got to his feet and brushed off his artist-y jeans.

"What do you want from me?" Bobby repeated, his voice sterner and his anger echoed inside of it. He was disgusted with himself. Maybe he could turn in Crowley to the police… but that picture was proof that would keep Crowley safe from him.

"Don't be like that." Crowley purred. "We know that you can hunt things down well. So we want you to find us some things. That's all."

"I'm not some sort of Lost and Found service."

"But you hunt down Mutants, right? So it's not like this will hurt you. We've had some deserters, some mutants who aren't doing their job. Kill them like you would any other mutants, and we'll keep this from getting out. And we'll even give you something you want in return."

That's all they wanted? That's all. But if Mutants were deserting Lucifer's cause, then they were ones that were good and wanted to get back into the reserve, not the ones that went on plundering and killing in Lucifer's Army.

"What do you want, Bobby?" Crowley had sidled closer to him, his face close enough to Bobby's neck that he could've bitten it.

Bobby stayed completely still. What did he want? Protection for Castiel and Gabriel, but then Lucifer would know where they were… Protection for himself, for Dean? No, that was too risky as well. What could he really gain from this?

Nothing. There was nothing that he could gain from…

"I want you to leave Lucifer's army." Bobby told the kid, putting his hands on Crowley's shoulders and shoving him away.

"I can't! Why would you even want that?" Crowley looked at him, his eyes wide and completely on defense.

Now it was Bobby's turn to smirk on the inside. "You drew on your pants, right? You drew that?"

"Yeah, but… but…" The kid was stuttering. What a way to turn the tables.

"Then I want you to become an artist and stop forcing people into deals like this. Stop working for that evil man."

"I-I… You don't understand anything! You can't really want that, you have to want something else!" Crowley yelled, balling his hands into fists.

"I want it." Bobby gave Crowley one last look, before leaving the classroom. "I won't say no deal if I don't get it, but I'll have a lot more motivation this way."

Crowley was left in shock as Bobby headed off home.

* * *

"Crowley?" Dean hissed. "That bastard really is working with Lucifer?"

Bobby nodded, chopping up peppers for whatever gruel he was feeding Gabriel and Castiel while they were staying with him. It only had been a week or so since they settled in, but it already seemed like home.

Sam and Dean had taken to spending a bit more time than necessary at Bobby's place. Sam liked hanging out with Gabriel, and Dean tried to learn all he could about mutants and hunting. Dean thought he'd been spending his time wisely, if Lucifer was sniffing around Bobby already.

Castiel's head hung, his bright blue eyes directed to the floor. This whole thing was hardest on him and Sam, they were still young and unable to help. Gabriel and Dean on the other hand were raging to go at Crowley and skin him alive.

Dean couldn't stand this. He knew that Cas and Gabe really weren't involved, but Cas kept blaming himself for whatever shit Crowley pulled on Bobby despite everyone's reassurances that it wasn't about them.

"What does this even mean for them? Lucifer's gonna find out that they're here if you work for him!" Dean pointed at the two mutants on the kitchen counter. Bobby's eyes followed his finger and darkened with guilt.

"I know… but there's not much I can do. I work for them and then they stay off my back." Bobby growled.

"That's never going to happen. They know they can use you!" Sam argued, his eyes wide and desperate. He really was too young to deal with this.

"We have to take out Lucifer if we ever want to be safe… But I don't even have any powers." Castiel moaned, his head against Gabriel's shoulder.

"Cassie's right, but what's next? We need to invade Lucifer's forces somehow." Gabriel was sitting on the countertop next to his brother, arm and wing slung around the younger mutant.

"There's no way we're letting anyone get hurt like that." Bobby chopped a bit of lettuce too hard and his knife ended up stuck in the cutting board. Yanking it out irritatedly, "It's not a big deal for me to hunt rogue mutants, if that's what the real deal is. As long as it keeps them off my back and they don't go looking for you two."

"But it is, Bobby. It's a big deal." Dean agreed with Gabriel. "If we invade them somehow, then we can get inside and take out Lucifer. Isn't that a bit more important than our complete and utter safety? I thought as a hunter you'd understand that this more than anything is how everyone stays safe in the long run."

"Not with Castiel here." Bobby glared at them all. "Not with Sam and Castiel involved."

"Especially with Cas and I involved! If we leave things as is, Crowley and Lucifer will find out that you have Cas and Gabe here, and then everything will get really bad. I agree, we strike before we get struck! I'm not five, I'm eleven! I can handle myself, and I'll do what I need to!" Sam argued, book in hand and clothes ruffled up.

"This is madness, you're a group of kids!"

"I'm not much of a kid, Bobby. I'm an archangel." Gabriel butted in, drawing Castiel closer to him underneath his falcon wing. "And if you do not help us, then we will do whatever is necessary to protect ourselves."

"You…" Bobby dropped his knife on his cutting board and looked at the odd assembly. "Fine. But if anyone of you gets hurt, we're stopping this mad suicide mission."

* * *

Lisa. Dean had never truly gotten rid of all the unpleasant strings between himself and her. Now, he was grateful for it, because if he tugged on one of those strings, he found the way to the person he wanted.

It was lunch time, and Jo stared at him like he was crazy as he headed over to her table, Lisa snuggled in next to Bela and Meg, Ruby flanking her from across. She was surrounded by a group of the dark and evil, and Dean needed to talk to her alone.

"Lisa." He said with his most charming smile. "Baby."

Her eyes lit up like a display on Christmas eve. "Dean, honey! Girls, excuse me. I need to talk to my darling!"

Ugh, puke in his mouth. Dean resisted the urge to roll his eyes and punch her in the face. God, why him? The girl was already attacked to his arm and giggling. Lisa was acting like she was on drugs, and he didn't doubt it.

He pulled her away into the library. Sam had gotten permission from his school to go here during lunch (only that kid would've been able to read ALL the books in his own library), and was using it to write down everything she said. If all went well, then they would walk out of here with instructions on how to get in contact with Crowley or someone else who knew how to join Lucifer's army.

Then they'd use Gabriel to wring them of information on how Lucifer's army worked. If worst came to worst, then someone would have to actually join. If things went best, then they'd know where to find Lucifer and they'd attack.

"Lisa, we need to talk." He said, turning around and confronting her.

She pouted, and he wanted to punch her because this ditz wasn't the proud, strong woman he'd dated. She wasn't even the girl he'd dumped. Was she on something?

"You're so boring, Dean! You don't want make-outs, you don't want sex, you don't want anything and you drag me out here to talk?" She slurred.

Okay, she was on something.

Dean frowned. "Lisa, what've they been giving you?"

Her eyes narrowed at the accusation, but she wobbled and the intimidation she'd been trying for was completely broken. She was about as threatening as a kitten, and so he treated her like one. He set her down gently on a chair, and patted her head for reassurance.

If it had really been Lisa and not this drugged up stupid- no, Dean couldn't get mad at her for this. He needed to get information out of her, though, which meant no more Mr. Nice-Guy.

"You're so silly, Dean! They don't give me anything~! I buy my own stuff just like everyone else in this dull and boring world!" Lisa cackled, throwing her hands up. "I don't think you're ready to do much of anything with Crowley around, Dean. He told me to be careful of you."

Dean could hear the gears grinding in his own head as he tried to think. She'd… set him up?

Hell, why hadn't he checked her eyes to see if they were dilated or her pulse or even her freaking breath? Judging by her wicked grin, he should've done that first thing, figuring out why she had been so odd-

"You think you can play me, Dean? You think you can dump me, choose her, and then try and use me?" Lisa spat, venom in her tone. It wasn't light and airy, and she sounded pissed as hell.

God, this was bad. Dean looked around, and at the Library's only entrance, only exit, leaned Crowley dressed up in black torn goth stuff that was out of fashion back in the 80's and not coming back. Shit, they had him pinned in.

He needed someone to come before shit got real; he should've realized Lisa wasn't this stupid!

"Lisa, you're not like this, what're you doing?"

"Dean, you never took the effort to get to know me, how would you know what it's like? No, you're a dick and I hate you, and you'll never understand why I'm doing this!" She trembled a little, and he could even see the indecision in her eyes, but he didn't know how to pry at it.

"Com'n Lisa, this is Lucifer we're talking about. He murders people, you can't go hanging around his gang and doing stuff like this! Crowley and the rest of them are bad news, you're not this type of girl!" Dean begged, grabbing her shoulders. If he could just get to her, then everything would be okay.

Her eyes sharpened. "This stopped being about right and wrong a long time ago. I made my choices, you make yours. Don't pull me into your crap about right and wrong, I know which side I chose."

"She's right." Crowley laughed in his horrible little accent, his skin just a tinge too pale. "Don't go pulling the hero card, Winchester. And stay out of things that you need to stay out of. Leave what Mr. Singer is doing alone, and I'll promise we'll do the same to you. It's not like we're gonna hurt you, Winchester, but I've heard your brother is easy."

Lisa and her betrayal aside, even if she was on the wrong side, Lisa should know that attacking Sam when he was innocent and defenseless was cruel and evil. Murdering people was too, but she knew Sam. She liked Sam. She could pretend that they didn't kill people, but she would see Sam and his beaten up face and she would know how evil they were.

He didn't want to find out if it was true or not.

"Leave Sam the fuck out of this! Sam's not part of it!" Dean roared, launching himself towards Crowley.

The evil little shrimp dodged, and laughed while he was at it. "Lucifer will KILL Sam if you mess this up, Winchester!"

Dean froze, watching the snot run away.

Kill Sam?

They couldn't kill Sam.

Not Sammy.

"L-Lisa…" He whipped around, and slammed her up against the nearest bookshelf. "You heard him! How the fuck are you on their side?"

"I don't know… maybe, because you ruined my life!" She hissed, biting his wrist so hard she broke skin. It didn't take much for her to slip out and run after Crowley after that.

Dean cradled his wrist. God, stupid fucking mutants and stupid fucking Lucifer.

They had threatened Sam. Oh god, they had threatened to kill Sam. Dean really just wanted to start crying where he was on the Library's floor, curl up into a tiny ball, and pretend the world outside of his knees didn't exist.

* * *

Castiel bound Dean's bitten wrist after school. The make-shift bandage he'd made out of spare tissue from the bathroom and a paper clip just didn't cut it for the mutant. Dean had almost wanted to take his wrist away and bandage it himself, because he didn't want to be touched by a mutant when one had so clearly threatened to kill his brother less than 4 hours ago.

Sam looked at the two of them worriedly, Gabriel flanking his side. "Is that gonna heal okay? I didn't think Lisa'd bite so hard."

"She was… very pissed." Dean grunted, wincing from pain as Castiel secured the fabric with a clip.

"Why would this Lisa have so much cause for anger?" Castiel asked in his dull monotone, his voice sharp and his blue eyes the shiniest things in the kitchen.

Gabriel shrugged, taking a seat. "Didn't Dean dump her?"

"That's part of a huge whole muddle that no one really figured out." Sam laughed, but it was only half-heartedly. "We think the whole deal was that Lisa'd cheated on Dean, and broke up with him after he cheated on her to show her how it felt. Or at least, that's the version Dean told me."

"Bitch said I only dated her for sex." Dean snapped, his brow furrowed and he was sure that the rest of them could feel the anger rolling off his shoulders in waves. He was pissed, and he didn't know if he'd rather hurt Lisa or punch himself in the face.

Gabriel patted the spot next to himself, and Sam took a seat next to him. Their eyes were all focused on Dean, and he continued, "Then she said that it wasn't about wrong or right, and that I ruined her life."

"Whoa. Dude, you need to not date the crazy chick next time." Gabriel whistled.

The conversation came screaming to a stop as Bobby came back from one of his hunting trips. To see red blood splotched on the corner of his jacket was unnerving, but he didn't look injured. Cas flinched a bit and Gabriel turned a blind eye, but Dean guessed it was mostly because Bobby was killing mutants and that was probably mutant blood on his jacket, and they all knew it.

"You okay?" Sam called after him as Bobby took the trip up the stairs in silence.

"Fine." came the gruff response, to which Sam and Dean knew no more would be said. Dean looked towards the ground and frowned.

Bobby had been run ragged with hunting jobs. Lucifer had been leaving little 'gifts' hand delivered from Crowley, all including disturbingly details letters on who Lucifer wanted killed next.

Crowley was a little snotty brat, and Dean wanted to punch his face in.

"Bad night, I guess." Sam shrugged, but the atmosphere had already become so heavy that no one wanted to speak.

Dean broke the silence first. "Castiel, you're going to your room. Sam, you go with him. If you two don't, I'll punch out a wall and turn into the hulk."

They both stared at him like he'd grown another head. He kinda wished he had, it'd been useful in figuring out what the hell to do.

"You heard me." He smirked, giving Castiel the needed shove. "Up the stairs you two go."

Sam protested much more, but Castiel seemed to glide up the stairs without so much as a peep of protest. Once they were gone, Dean turned to Gabriel.

"Crowley and Lisa threatened Sam. They said if I kept poking my head around, they'd kill Sam." Dean told him simply, hoping to death that Sam or Castiel hadn't overheard.

They weren't too young to hear it, but who knows what they would do. Gabriel, he trusted, would be reasonable and calm and go at this the right way.

"I know. Crowley stopped by to deliver the message." Bobby interrupted them both, a towel hung over his shoulders. "Stupid brat."

"What're we going to do?" Gabriel demanded, spirits and feathers ruffled up just as much as Dean's.

"We invade." Bobby took a deep breath. "We need Sam to join Lucifer's Army."

* * *

**A/N: Short chapter is short. Oh well. DEAL WITH IT. I AM THE MIGHTY AMAZING AUTHORESS. BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP. jkjk**

**I'm so sorry this took so long. I tried to write it pretty fast, but it might just seemed rushed or something. Thanks a trillion for all the support and I'll do my best to keep on writing. I may not update again for a while, sorry. I'll try to make it short and within the next two months sometime, because I love you guys and I have plot for this. Yay. Plot.**

**Um, drabbly/picturey things if someone can guess why Lisa is on the bad guy side! Thanks again for all the follows and favorites and reviews! Especially reviews because they are amazing and I LOVE THEM.**


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